Office Sisters

My apologies- this is going to be a short one-

This week was awesome! I am just loving my time with Hna P, She´s just great and we get along swell. We worked really hard this week too. Like harder than I´ve worked in a long time. I´m pretty sure I´m going to wear through my shoes a lot faster than I expected. I don´t know how many miles it is every day- but we´re racking them up! My companion studied nursing at BYU-I for 4 years, so I guess you can say she has more experience than me. :) She is so awesome and we get along great and we´re working hard. She´s from Arizona- one of 11 kids

Some news- We are going to be working in the Office! We´re Office sisters! (I´ve always wanted to be in The Office- like the TV show- and now my dream is basically coming true!) Hermana P is going to not only be in charge of taking calls and telling people what to do, but she will be in charge of making the appointments at the hospital as well. Kind of cutting out the middle man, so to speak. Which means, when she´s not training me, I will be in the office too. And I´m also going to be helping people out in the Family History Center we´re having there. Kelsi- you would be so proud of me! :) We start Wednesday- and our P-Day will be changed to Saturday, so when you don´t get emails on Monday, don´t worry.

I´m not going to lie, I´m a little overwhelmed at times, when I think "In 4 months, when Hna P leaves, I might be the mission nurse." But I know that with Heavenly Father- I can do everything. :) Pray for me though- prayers never hurt.

I´m so sorry to hear about Kelsi- she´s going on my prayer list. Let´s get this girl some answers! Abby- I´m so proud of you for finishing Harry Potter 4!!! Way to go! Hannah! Way to turn 17- send me some of your clothes! Rachey!! Way to make it to STATE! Superstar! Allie- way to keep on being CUTE! ZACH! I HOPE YOU´RE ALIVE! Grandparents- I love you! Dad! Good luck with your eye surgery- think of me and my eye patch when you get it done! Mom! Keep being the best mom ever! Did you get my birthday letter? I wrote you a poem! Chase! Happy 21st birthday!!

I love you all!

Hermana Leavitt

Happy, Happy, Happy!

Happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy! If you can´t tell- I´m so happy! For lots of reasons-

-I got to have an interview with Presidente Zorbrist this Tuesday, and it felt so good to just lay it all out there on the line. I told him everything. Everything that I´ve been thinking and feeling and doing and why I never called and lots of other things, and I felt so good afterwards. It was such a good time. I´ve come to gain a testimony about leaders that have priesthood keys and who can receive revelation for you. Before, I think I thought I could only talk to him if I needed to confess something that I did, but honestly, I can talk to him just to get counsel about things as well. :) It was great, and much needed. He also asked me if I had any medical experience, to which I replied "Does Girl´s Camp Certification count?" and then I proceeded to tell him that I have passed out not once, but TWICE while getting an X Ray. Which is why I am surprised to be...

-The new companion of the mission nurse! Hermana P! She is so great! I came to love Hermana Z, but it was time for us to part ways. I learned a lot from my time with her though. Lots of kind of hard lessons to learn when you can´t communicate all that well- but I know my time with her will help me for the rest of my mission. It will also help me, should I have the opportunity to train. But right now- I´m with Hna P! A gringa! She´s awesome. The first thing we did when she moved all of her stuff in our room was use these dart guns that she bought. We have kind of the same sense of humor, and we kind of like different things, but we´re getting along great so far. I know, it´s only day two- but I am loving my time with her. I feel so much better, and the effects of being stressed out for weeks are starting to fade just a bit. :) We have a lot more responsibilities, because she´s the enfermeda, and people call her all the time, but I´m looking forward to it. I´m probably going to be her last companion, and I guess I´m supposed to learn as much as I can from her, so I can help Hermana Zobrist out when she finishes her mission in 4 months.

I´m so happy! I´m doing so much better, and I´m so optimistic about this time I have with my new companion. :)

A birthday shout out to my girl BANANERS! Happy 17th this 25th girlie!!! What do you want from Perú? That goes for all of you, start sending me ideas for what you´d like, cause I´m sending something home this Christmas. :) I already got something for mom.

I love you all, and thank you so much for all that you do. For all the prayers, all the letters, all the support. I really am so blessed to have you. Thank you for the many emails from both of my Grandparents. What a legacy! :)

More from your favorite Hermana in Perú next week!

Loves,

Hermana Leavitt

After further clarification from Melissa, this is what Alan thinks Melissa meant."What she means is that her new companion is like a (my own words here), kind of like an assistant to the president (AP)'s wife (Hermana Zobrist). Hermana P is the mission nurse, and it sounds like they want Melissa to learn all she can from her and if it works for her, to possibly be doing that when Hermana P leaves in 4 months. And she thinks she'll be with Hermana P for 4 months, until she leaves. So this could be a very enjoyable stretch of her mission I'm thinking. How funny and ironic it could be if she became "the mission nurse!!""

No longer a tourist

Mom! Hope that you weren´t too concerned to not recieve an email yesterday- because I had to leave Arequipa for Lima- to finally get my Visa! That´s right folks- your Hermana Leavitt is finally all legalized in Perú. I´m happy to no longer be a tourist, but an actual foreigner here. It´s exciting stuff.

Going to Lima was absolutely awesome, because I got to hang out with my hermanas from the CCM! I missed them all so much. And, I realized that I needed people to talk to more than I realized. Did I tell you that there are no other hermanas in  our Zone? None. And I´ve been through some hard things. And I have had some hard times. So, you can imagine, after 12 weeks of not being able to talk and JOKE- it was just awesome. I miss being able to joke around! I can´t joke aorund in Spanish! I went a little crazy, every sentence out of my mouth was either slightly sarcastic or a movie reference, or a song lyric or a LotR joke. I miss being able to make people laugh so much. I think that´s why I loved Duo with Hanna so much- I love making people laugh! 

It was such a great blessing, to be able to talk to Hermana V. again. She´s so great, and I love her. I can´t even express how happy I was with all of them yesterday! I felt like myself for the first time since the CCM- I didn´t feel like someone trying to be a perfect missionary and always falling short of expectations that someone else has set up for me. I felt like Hermana Leavitt. And I needed that so bad.

I finish my training this week- and we have cambios this Sunday. So- this next Sunday- I´ll either be somewhere new, or I might have a new companion.

A Tale of Fathers

October 7, 2013

-I was surprised beyond belief that I recieved a Cannon Chronicle in the mail this past Thursday! Surprised because I didn´t know they still did this, and also surprised because I´m in Perú, but the biggest suprise came when I saw that you sent in part of my emails for our family contribution! YOU CHEATERS! Hahaha, no, it´s smart, to get out of writing something, to send what you´ve already got. I´ve decided to not use as many exclamation points in my emails, should this happen again. Also, my Zone teased me mercilessly that my extended family apparently does ¨The most typically Mormon thing since the crossing of the Plains.¨(In the words of my LD) They couldn´t get over the interviews and the crossword puzzle. But I have to admit, it´s impressive. And I loved reading about my Aunts Laura (I thought you´d appreciate that grammar Dad). I also couldn´t help but feel a surge of pride when good ol´George Q. was quoted in this conference. What a legacy we´ve got.

-I learned a lot about heartbreak this week. It started with a new convert, who lives in the same building as us. We came home from emailing last week, to hear someone sobbing in her room. Tentatively, we knocked, and found her just devastated, on the floor of her room. Long story short, after promising her all sorts of things about taking her to the temple, and about adopting a child because they couldn´t have any, her husband left for a "business trip" but in reality, he cleaned out all their bank accounts and took all his valuable stuff, and he left her to live with another woman. We sat there and cried with her, and then we read scriptures and prayed, but I had no idea what to say to help this woman wth this broken heart. Wé´ve been checking up on her, and she seems to be doing okay, but talk about heartbreak. The only thing we can say, over and over again, is that her Savior knows her, and her pain, and her situation, better than anyone else in the world, and she can rely on Him, and the healing power of the Atonement, to help her cope.

-I also had the chance to learn about Fathers this week, we´ve been teaching a man for about a month now. Long story short, we thought he was ready for Baptism, we went for a visit, found his 13 year old son, began teaching him, and then his dad came home, and grabbed him by his ear, and threw him into their room, and then took a piecve of wood that was used to prop open the door, and began to beat him. He shut the door, so we couldn´t see, but we could hear. We left as soon as we could, and I just wanted to sit down and cry. But apparently this form of discipline is the most common form in Perú, and Hna Z couldn´t understand why I was so worked up about it. I think it´s because I´m from a home where my father hardly ever raises his voice, and never ever raises his hand. It was really sad, but it helped me appreciate what I´ve got.

I love you all, I´m happy, and healthy, and I´m going to try and send another letter this week. Be patient with me! :)

Hna Leavitt

A typical Sunday

Some highlights from your favorite Hermana in Perú (atleast I hope so)-

-We had an earthquake this week! Don´t worry, everything is good, the volcanoe didn´t explode, and everyone´s happy. It was kind of cool and kind of scary. We sure don´t have those in Idaho though. Afterwards Hna Z and I also read our Emergency packets for the first time- to figure out what to do if there ever was a worse one. So now we´re informed and we added more stuff to our Emergency backpacks that made us feel better.

-We have been asked to teach Seminary three nights a week because our ward can´t hold down a decent or consistant seminary teacher to save their lives. So yeah- laugh it up Brother P! Speaking of Brother P- please make a formal apology on my part for every time I used my cell phone in Seminary or colored Disney pages- because when the kids here don´t want to pay attention- I can´t help but think -KARMA! It´s karma. Also, Hannah and Rachel- if you want a laugh, one time during seminary, ask him about the time his friend got stabbed in the neck and died. It´s not what it sounds like- He´ll explain. But anyways- I don´t know what´s happening with our ward, but when we got here, they were just falling apart! Slowly we´ve been rebuilding, but it´s taken a lot of hard work and long nights on our part. Por ejemplo- I choose the Hymns and play the prelude, hymns, and postlude music during sacrament meetings (feel free to let Julie know this- we´ve got the same calling!), my companion leads, our ward mish leader is a bit of a skipper outer, so we teach Gospel Principles too, the Primary Presidency won´t ever meet together- and the President asked us to help her with the primary program, and by "help" I mean that we are in charge of choosing the songs, writing the kids parts, helping them practice during church and once during the week, we also don´t have a ward choir, and no one else can play the piano, so miercoles y sabados, we have ward choir practice in the chapel for an hour, and sometimes one person comes, and sometime 15 come, and we´re also continuing our English Classes and Family History Classes, which surprisingly has consistant attendance, and none of the YW do Personal Progress, so on Saturdays in the afternoon we have (cough, cough, mandatory, couch, cough) PP workshops, and there´s also this group in R.S. who say that they don´t understand the scriptures, so we have a scripture study class on Jueves, along with our Noches Misional, where poeple bring their nonmember friends to the chapel for a short message and to play games. And in all this mess, we get to find time for our investigators! We´re crazy, crazy busy- But I think all the service we´re giving is helping! We´ve gotten our sacrament meeting numbers up to a consistant 30. So that´s improvement from 15. :) But, although it´s crazy and we´ve got a million things to do- I am loving it!

  

I love you all- Keep you chins up!

Hna Leavitt

Enos

I just wrote mom a letter, but I have to say it again- Happy Birthday this week Mom!! Celebrate extra hard for me, okay?! Everyone eat twice the cake and ice cream that you normally would, to compensate for me not being there. Also watch like 11 hours of Netflix, and then you´ll really know what it´s like to be me. Anyways-

We had divisiones again this week- and like the first time- I absolutely loved it!! Like I´ve said, Hna C is officially the coolest missionary that I´ve ever met, and I want to be exactly like her. She calls people to repentance in the street and in their houses and in buses- it´s incredible! And, once again, this division came at a perfect, much needed time, when I was a little "menos animada" because of lots of things. I know that I needed it more than any other time on my mission, and I´m so grateful to have capacitadoras who listen to the spirit to know when they need to switch things up. They´re awesome.

This week was pretty normal, we have one investigator, who keeps on disappointing us- but hey, if we do all that we can do, we can only be disappointed in the situation, not in ourselves.

I ate a chicken foot this week. In my soup. And a chicken heart. And these really really pink salty potatoes that I could barely scarf down. But I´m trying (almost) everything that I can- to really get the Peruvian experience. :)

I picked out an awesome scripture case that this lady in our stake makes for all the missionaries that want it. It´s going to be awesome, and I chose the image of Enos for my LBM, and afterwards I decided I better study up a little but on what exactly is in Enos to justify me having it. And Enos is awesome. I have a letter to send with more of my thoughts.

Hey- if someone asked you right now what the Pearl of Great Price is- could you answer them?  I don't know where I was for the seminary lesson when we learned how to explain what the P of GP is- but I found out this week that I have something I need to study.

I love you all, and I hope the letter I sent you finds you in good, happy health-

Keep up the good work Leavitt´s!

Hna Leavitt

It is all worth it

Family! How are you all?! I´m so excited to write to you this week for multiple reasons-
1) "Bautismo, baustismo, vamos a bautismo!" This was the song that I song from the hours of 6:28 am to 11:23 am this past Saturday- much to the chagrin of my companera- but I was sop excited that I couldnt hold it in! This 14th of setiembre, D.menetered the waters of baptism and made a lasting covenant with God and it was just awesome! This was the first baptism that I felt like I had an actual "hand" in- so to speak, and the joy and happiness that I felt this day was just amazing. This is joy- to help others come unto Christ through faithful actions of repentance. We went to the capilla the night before to set it all up, and we cleaned, and cut out letters (without a Cricket- can you believe it?!), and blew up balloons, and moved the piano and everything was all ready to go, and we went to bed that night with our fingers and toes crossed that it wouldn't fall through, and everything would be beautiful manaña. And it basically was! We told all the members we could that we had a baptismal service this Saturday, at 10 in the morning, and we had lots of people say that they´d be there. But this is Perú and no one is ever on time- so finally, at 10:47, when people started showing up, we started. It really was beautiful. And, once again, I had the chance to play Peruivian hymns I've never heard, but it all turned out okay! And afterwards, Daniel bore his testimony- and when he looked at us with tears in his eyes and said thank you, and how much all the support of the misioneras meant to him, because he doesn't have his family here or a lot of friends, and how he was just amazed that we would do all this for him and that he could feel the love of God every time that he read the Book of Mormon (this is all coming from a 22 year old, mind you) that´s when I had a "Alright- I´ll take all the bad, all the frustration, all the aching feet, all the slammed doors, all the homesickness, I´ll take all of it- twice over if I have to- if I can have another moment like this." I took lots of pictures, and I´ll send them when I get my cord, but it was just special and I loved every minute of my time in our chapel this Saturday.
2) I had my first "opportunity to grow" as far as my health is concerned! Mom, calm your jets- I´m totally fine now, but I have learned the valuable lesson of not eating alpaca meat. :) Good to know! I´m taking my vitamins and all sorts of witchcraft voodoo things Mom, don´t worry. But it was a great opportunity to reflect on why I was really here. :)
3) We had a country wide broadcast this Sunday, for stake conference, and Elder Bednar and Elder Scott talked to the people of Perú and it was broadcast from Lima. And it was really special- Elder Bednar talked bout how we cant schedule repentance, and Elder Scott talked about the divinity of women- how´re they´re the crowing glory of the Father. It was so neat to see how much respect the people here have for Prophets, they paid so much attention to the Apostles and talked about it for hours afterwards.

I´m doing good, still reading Jesus the Christ like it´s hot off the shelves- and I love it.

I was super duper jealous to see you all at USU. Utah State- Hey, Aggies all the way!

I love you, all of you, even my little sock mummy. :)

Keep it up Leavitts!

Loves-

Hermana Leavitt